28 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
17 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
14 September 2010
It was a deer with 8-point antlers (or 4-point, who knows, I sure don't). Additional bones of its remains were close by. Not sure how this beautiful animal ended up in its current state, but it was definitely an interesting find on our morning run. We continued to make our way down the marked but unclerared trail until we got to the fence. Once there, we continued on what should have been a 200 yard section across private property until we could rejoin the Landtrust trail that would take us back to the parking lot. Well, no such luck, we missed that cutoff and ended up running a loop back to the parking lot, finishing our run on a half mile stretch of country road. Overall, a nice 5 1/2 mile run, but very slow.
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
13 September 2010
Today's run was a little easier and a little more entertaining. The tide had not yet covered much of the firm sections of the beach right along water's edge, so I was able to avoid much of the soft sections that I had to run through during yesterday's adventure. I had also had significantly more sleep prior to this run. I ended running with two of the guys that stayed at the condo with us, Tilo visiting for our friend's wedding from Germany and Ivan from Huntsville, Alabama via Mexico. Since all of us had varying backgrounds in running, we opted for a slow (10 min) pace that would keep everyone happy. Running West, we had the sun on our backs for the outbound leg of the run. That meant that the sun would be straight in our faces on our inbound leg. It makes a huge difference to be able to keep the sun out of your face since sunscreen will run straight into your eyes once you start sweating. Next time, a hat is a must have item on these runs. This run felt much easier than yesterday's, largely due to our ability to select firm terrain along the edge of the water for most of the run.
Having had the opportunity to run about 6 miles of the race course for the Destin 50, I am not so sure I am "up for the challenge". It is definitely a tough ultra. But who knows, I change my mind all the time.
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Barefoot Running, Beach Running, Destin 50 Beach Ultra, Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
After finding one of the firmer sections right at the edge of the water, I started my run slowly heading east along the course of next year's Destin 50 Beach Ultra. This was to be my first reconnaissance run to see if I really wanted to accept this challenge next February and what the most appropriate footwear would be. Because I only had little sleep the night before, I cut my run short, from 10 to 6 miles so I didn't quite make it to Topsail State Park and its dunes. Nevertheless, I did learn quite a bit on this section. Namely, this is going to be one hell of a challenge for anyone attempting the ultra next year. The terrain cannot be described as easy. Whenever you had to run on soft sand sections, it immediately felt like you were running one step forward and two steps back. Quicksand would be another word to describe the feeling. Actually, some of the beach sand was so fine and granular that running on it and sinking into the sand made the same squeaky noise you get when running on a gym floor.
However, the scenery was beautiful. While running along the beach was very tiring, it was rewarding as well. I ran a very slow 10 minute per mile pace, trying to pay attention to all the details of the course conditions. To sum it all up, I did not have any blisters form, but that was probably just due to the short distance of my run as there was plenty of sand inside my shoes and socks. The terrain is very challenging and running 50 miles here will require paying great attention to the details and possibly learning how to recognize and distinguish between the different surfaces as you are running to try to stay on the firmest sections of the beach. However, sometimes all a runner will have is the soft beach sand we all look for when we are just looking to lay at the beach.
Tomorrow, I will run West towards the start of the Destin 50 Beach Ultra race start location and give my VFFs a try on this terrain.
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Beach Running, Destin 50 Beach Ultra, Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
10 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
06 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
04 September 2010
The 5K would be run on the same course but as a single loop instead. It started a 9:30AM and I was really contemplating just jogging it instead of racing it. However, once I toed the starting line my competitive nature took over, again. While I knew I didn't have enough left in the tank to PR or to push for placement, I did want to push nonetheless. When the race was started, my legs felt like lead for the first 200 yards and the only thing getting me to pick up my pace was the flow of runners around me. After half a mile into the race, my legs were loose and I was able to run again. I didn't break any speed records, but I found out later on the results page on the web that I was actually 24th overall out of 220 male runners (25th overall out of 430 runners) and 1st in my age group. I think this was only my second ever first place finish in running any race. Not too bad for a day of back to back road races that were meant as training runs.
Posted by Ultra Kraut in 2010 Monte Sano 5/10K, Endurance Running, Race Reports, Running, Trail Running, Ultra Running
03 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running
02 September 2010
Posted by Ultra Kraut in Endurance Running, Running, Trail Running, Training Logs, Ultra Running